It would be okay to say that these days Sony isn’t enjoying its best days. After all, it is the same company that gave us Walkman and PlayStation but recently at SXSW in Austin, TX- where it showcased its futuristic products, the company seemed out of depth- not necessarily in a bad way.
The company unveiled a helmet. Yes, a helmet that has a projector, a headphone, and an HTC Vive tracker attached to it. What does it do? We aren’t quite sure. The company says it demonstrates how human perception is affected by technology through various senses. To make its case, Sony presented a demo of how animals move around in their environment using entirely different senses than us.
The first demo showed how mosquitoes use smell to find blood. For the experience, the headphone kept playing buzzing sound and the projector simulated an environment as the mosquito would see it. We can’t really say it did a wonderful job making users feel like a mosquito but the concept nonetheless is intriguing. Another demo simulated an environment as would be seen to a butterfly with colorful, abstract mosaic projected onto the walls. If these abstract experiences are too much for you to handle, you can at least play Netflix move around your home until the company figures out to deliver something practical with this helmet.
What’s the point?
First of all, the technology, for now, is quite raw and would need much refinement and smoothing to be actually able to be considered for consumer use. For now, we aren’t sure the exact purpose of this technology or the precise problem it is trying to solve. But one thing is sure that it’s something new and people will take time to get used to it. It can well be the stepping stone for something big to come or may end up like many technologies before it, as a mere gimmick. The best we can do is to just wait and watch.